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While stopping in at Trade Joes (on Pico) earlier today for some lunch, I was reminded as to why it’s so important for emloyees, managers and the like to really be conscious and attentive to the impact they have on their customers.

Having made my way through the throngs of shoppers, I settled on what looked to be the quickest checkout-lane (but ended up having to diffuse a quick spat w/some middle-aged flamboyant gay man who verbally assaulted me for supposedly tossing his cart out of the line). Then just mere minutes later, one of the crew-chief-manager-types (Hawaiian t-shirt and all) shoved his way past between me and the very narrow space between me and the cash rep, when he could have easily passed around in the vast, volume of space that lay behind me.

My first impression was that it was just another rude, rushed customer but upon further scrutiny revealed the obvious relationship he shared with the store in which we both congregated. While it’s one thing to accidentally bump into a customer or something similar, it’s another to nearly full-on smear them (yes a bit overkill, but the intensity of his passing had felt nearly as much so), without so much as an “Excuse me”, “Pardon me”, or what have you.

While I can’t do much to change the behaviour of those in the public, I definitely do my best to treat my own customers with the utmost respect and regard whenever I’m interacting with them.

Hmm, maybe I should start a customer awareness consultation service and offer undercover, surprise visits so the average Joe can actually trust his dedicated patronage won’t go neglected.

If you’ve even at all a little savvy to the world of the WWW say…over the last decade then you’ll no doubt have heard a little something about a problem called Spam. So, arriving appropriately on the heels of my last post bashing Microsoft a little, comes this little blurb on Gmail’s spam prevention.

I’ve been using Gmail now for oh, almost 4 years I think. Not only have I never had to erase any emails, overly large attachments, and the like, but I’ve rarely if ever, had any real problems managing spam. Thanks to their kick-ass team of highly trained ninja’s…er, wait a minute, wrong post…but seriously, they’ve really got it together on this. So much so that their marketing appears to solely rely on it at times, as evidenced here from a recent snapshot from one of their ads on Tribe:

Anyway, don’t just take my word for it, try it out for yourself. Read more about their services and if you try them, let me know.

I’m still surprised to this day when people express bewilderment over why I appear aghast when they say their using Windows.

Well below is another great example of why I’m a devoted Mac and/or Linux fan. I just received an email from a family member who was trying to share some recent photo’s via the MSN Photo E-mail slideshow system. What arrived in my inbox was sheer crap (and not on account of the family member’s pics), just look at the snapshot of its contents:

I thought maybe it was just a corrupted email, link or something like that so I tried to log into the associated link but that failed to work too:

So out of formality, I tried clicking on their “Sign Up Now” button, but that failed too, not surprisingly:

So family members (by this I mean people in general, for those family members who might choose to take this personally ) at large…please, please, please stop using MSN’s services; switch to Google, anything, just not these guys and end this ugly, antiquated technological nightmare you’ve so sheepishly allowed to herd you.

Worth taking the time to watch if you’re interested in biotechnology, biomimicry, sustainable design, etc:

People are forever challenged by understanding the thoughts, words, actions, or other medium employed by another.

Today’s communication, while seemingly enabling an infinitely easier time to make one’s point, is far from clear. Even with all the technologies at hand: personal email, company email, social network email/messaging, instant messaging, text messaging, VoIP, direct connect, tele-conferencing, landlines, cell phones, fax, static communications like a personal webpage or profile, and on and on; there’s just no shortage of tools to communicate with.

But what all this technology fails to provide is the motivation and commitment between people to maintain open, clear and concise communication with one another. Regardless of the tools at hand, people still operate from within their respective bubbles of solitude. They forget that there is almost always someone on the other end, directly or indirectly involved and invested in what you have to say.

These are strange days we’re living in, married to a never-ending parade of gadgetry, all in the name of progress (supposedly). I think the best is yet to come, however. I think all these tools and devices are simply stepping stones enabling us all to regenerate and tap into our latent, higher powers of communication that are far superior than anything high-technology will ever deliver.

Just look at the simple act of making a cellphone call: your fingers articulate some pre-defined number scheme, you hold your hand up with said device to your head, more specifically your ear, then perhaps wait a few moments, in which case often times you’ll urgently call out in your mind (out loud if you’re really in need) for the recipient to answer your call, saying “come on, come on…pick up, pick up” or some such thing. Then finally someone answers, perhaps not the person you intended in some cases, but apparently someone was within range to “pick up” and answer your ‘call’.

I think this example clearly illustrates what’s happening and more importantly, where things are going. Next time you see someone making a call, just take a minute to watch them. And I mean, really watch them. Try to sense what’s happening as they go through the motions of this seemingly inanimate action. If you have to, squint your eyes or something to alter your pre-conceived notion of what’s happening; try to expand your consciousness outward with the call and maybe you’ll just ’see’ what’s really happening.

While trying to keep myself awake through an early morning class today, I decided to check in on Distinctivefabric.com’s Google keyword “fabric” ranking.

What I found was sorely disappointing, as the DF site has slipped from its 47th-53rd position (in regards to its placement with a generic “fabric” search) to 157th!

While it’s not a complete surprise that it’s slipped down, it is that it’s slipped that far. Not sure if the meta tags currently plugged in on this site are considered (keyword) stuffing or not, but if so, it sure would be nice if we’d been given a chance to edit our keyword list before being flushed down the cyber-pipeline.

If anyone has a minute to peek at ‘em and give me some feedback, I’d really appreciate it!

This past Saturday night saw another great Los Angeles-based psytrance event produced by Green Sector and Terrakroma called “The Soup Kitchen of Manifestation“, with performers Antix, Kiva, Evan Marc aka Bluetech, Trevor Wyse (rare performance these days) and more.

The event was held downtown at a great loft space and ran from 10pm - sunrise; Friday night was spent at Space Island - my first time back in over 2-yrs; it was actually quite chill, with nearly the entire Do LaB crew out in effect and some equally chill beats.

Anyway, Evan Marc played a set and then another under his original moniker, Bluetech.

Below are a few pics from the evening…

This old Chicken Little fable resonates ever more strongly for me as the world speeds closer and closer to…something.

I’m not going to say destruction, because I doubt we’re capable of completely destroying Her, but I do feel our own mortality draws exceedingly close and sharper. Whether it’s an end to life as we know it completely, a drastic redesign of our current system (of living), or something else entirely, I have no doubt that something is occurring and at a rate that’s growing exponentially.

With the world’s current pace of evolution out of control, I think people are too busy fighting/working to maintain status quo, to really take stock of what’s happening. Either that, or people are just plain terrified of the technological and industrial horrors we’ve unleashed on our planet; the times are uber-freaky for sure.

Oil spills, wars, human and animal abuse and destruction, rampant self-abuse and destruction, and a million other signs of life now ending/changing while nothing new for centuries now, seem to be accelerating even more rapidly to some final act. But will it be one great act of creation or one great finale?

Only time will tell.

I spent this past weekend in SF for Co-op America’s annual Green Festival.

I drove up with The Do LaB twins (Josh and Jesse) and Shena (Do LaB/Green Gurus/etc.) Friday afternoon in a Honda Civic Hybrid (from LAX to downtown SF on one tank…nice!), met up with some old Orangekid friends for some drinks and a long night of wide-ranging talks.

The next day we hit the Green Fest at about 12-pm, where we met up with an even older friend Brent Hurley, a fellow Twin Valley graduate. I also ran into an old friend from LA, Onyay, who had performed the day before with the Shakti Tribe, which I was sorry to have missed. Most of the day was then spent nearly fighting through the ample crowd for numerous free samples of holistic goodness in all shapes, sizes and colors; examined nearly each and every vendor for the latest, innovative Green…stuff.

And boy was there stuff, so much productization in fact, that we were literally stumbling over it all to get from booth to booth; what a disappointment. Not only had the event not evolved from last year’s nicely balanced collection of (yes) products (they’re still a hook-line-and-sink for many), new technologies, services, and speakers to this year’s onslaught of nearly pure products. It was really quite sickening, at least to me.

From an event that claims to be the world’s leading expo in sustainability, I really expected some measure of progression, anything to keep things fresh and innovative, not inundated with the same ol’ recipe for innovative disaster waste known the world over.

That all being said, it’s still a great time for those curious about all the fuss and in need of alternative resources.

Just like Burning Man, the Green Festival has seemingly reached a pinnacle or threshold for that genuine raw creative inspiration I admire in innovative, truly ground-breaking events such as The Do LaB’s own Lightning In A Bottle, an alternative event growing in mass appeal that combines both the latter two events prized distinctions: radical self-expression and sustainability, respectively.

Anyway, the event was worth attending at least to see first-hand, just how much the Green wave has spread in the last year alone. In terms of sheer publicity for this movement, Co-op America is doing a fine job at getting the word out.

Now just leave the festival magic for the real festivals.

Just another reason to muster your support in favor of Ron Paul:

http://www.tiny.cc/hdjDO